Neighbors: LIRR trains in W. Hempstead too noisy at night

Some frustrated neighbors in West Hempstead say noisy maintenance trains at the Hempstead Garden station are making it difficult to sleep at night.

According to neighbors, maintenance trains have been parking between the West Hempstead station and the Hempstead Garden station since mid-March.

They say they arrive and leave between 1 a.m. and 4 a.m. while idling for up to an hour.

The LIRR says there is no track work being done in West Hempstead. However, it says it needs to park the work trains in the area because of the availability of an additional single track, where trains are commonly stored.

In an email, the railroad says it has "done everything in its power to answer complaints of noise" in the past six years. The LIRR also says storing idling work trains on rail sidings is not a frequent occurrence.